By samblackledge | Posted: June 06, 2016
Members of the Tamarians group are set to blockade a nuclear weapons factory near Reading today
A group of Plymouth campaigners are set to join a protest at a nuclear weapons factory today.
The Tamarians, the local arm of the Trident Ploughshares group, say they will blockade the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Burghfield, near Reading.
The action is part of a week-long campaign urging the Government to scrap its plans to renew the Trident defence system and “build peace without weapons”.
A spokesman said: “The belief that peace is sustainable through possessing nuclear arms is very popular in times of fear and hatemonging.
“For us, it threatens and prevents peace.
“Our aim is to disable a war machine or system so that it can no longer harm people.
“The British Government has failed to implement Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in which it promised nuclear disarmament.”
The Tamarians said Plymouth residents are “horrified” by recent news about rising levels of plutonium in the River Tamar and reports of accidents within the Devonport dockyard, where Trident submarines are re-fitted.
“The current system is costing UK taxpayers £5,000 a minute to fund Trident submarines,” the spokesman added.
“Each submarine is armed with four nuclear warheads and each warhead is eight times the power of the one used at Hiroshima.
“In these times of austerity we really need to divert this funding into health, education and sustainable energy.
“The British government has announced the decision time for the Trident renewal programme to happen in 2016.
“As yet, no exact date is given, and some suspect the lack of transparency may be a strategy of leaving the peoples of this country purposely in the dark to avoid any resistance when making the decision.
“Under these circumstances our hopes are higher than ever that Trident will be scrapped so that the world will be a safer place without weapons of mass destruction.”
Source: The Herald – http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-campaigners-set-blockade-atomic-weapons/story-29365150-detail/story.html